The universe stretched farther with each breath I took spirals expanding, stars igniting, worlds cooling, cosmic dust settling into the first quiet patterns of infancy. Night drifted like a dark tide along the edge of creation, shaping shadows between newborn galaxies. Time pulsed steadily through the swirling lights, ensuring nothing remained still for too long.
They were consumed utterly captivated by the new realm.
Behind me, the ether-born watched in awe. I could feel their attention flickering like soft candles, uncertain yet filled with longing. They whispered among themselves, their voices soft ripples in the mist.
"He made all this with a single gesture…"
"A whole reality… expanding beyond sight…"
"And yet he stands here, apart from it. Why?"
I kept my gaze fixed on the universe. Its glow reflected in my eyes, casting silver ripples across my hands. Though their whispers were low, nothing in my realm escaped me.
The golden-being spoke first, stepping closer to the edge.
"First One… you shaped a realm greater than anything we could have dreamed. Why do you not step inside it? Guide it? Rule it? You are its creator."
The silver-being added, voice sharp with confusion:
"Why remain here in the ether? Why not command the stars you birthed? You have power over all of it. Should you not claim it? Control it?"
Their words were full of wonder, not challenge. But beneath their awe was something elseconcern.
They feared that a realm without its creator would drift into chaos.
I understood their fear. But they did not yet understand me.
I turned to face them, and the mist swirled around my feet in gentle currents. The other ether-born gathered behind the silver and golden beings, their forms trembling faintly as they awaited my answer.
"You believe creation requires control," I said softly.
They bowed their heads, uncertain.
Then I pointed toward the vast expanse of stars.
"But look at it."
They followed my gaze.
The universe was no longer a chaotic bloom. Its galaxies spun in mesmerising arcs. Nebulae glowed with soft, swirling colour. Worlds formed oceans of molten rock and mountains of frozen storms. Meteors danced in streams of shimmering dust. Night draped calm darkness over the brightest stars. Time wove rhythm into their movement.
It was still youngbut it had already begun to shape itself.
The golden-being whispered:
"It grows… even without your hand guiding each part."
I nodded."Exactly."
The silver-being tilted its head."But why? Why allow it freedom? You made it. Why not rule it?"
I looked back at the universe, a realm stretching endlessly, filled with potential I had not even imagined, when I flicked my wrist.
"When something is born," I said, "its first breath belongs to its creator. But every breath after… belongs to itself."
The ether-born murmured softly, trying to grasp my meaning.
I stepped forward until the edge of the ether rippled beneath me. My voice carried across the mist.
"If I enter that universe now, if I control each star, each world, each spark, then everything within it will depend on me."
I lifted my hand, letting the faint light from the distant galaxies wash over my palm.
"And if everything depends on me… it will never grow."
The silver-being's glow flickered.
"You choose… to stand here? At the beginning? Watching?"
"Yes," I said. "I choose to be the first witness before I am the ruler, the keeper, or the centre."
I turned back to the universe.
Its light pulled at me like gravity. Its motion whispered promises of stories not yet written. Its silence felt alive with possibility.
But this was not my realm to govern.
Not yet.
I whispered, mostly to myself:
"I want to see what becomes of a creation that shapes itself."
The golden-being stepped beside me, its warmth gentle.
"You created a realm of endless potential… and you want to watch how it unfolds. How it grows."
"Yes."
The golden-being bowed its head.
"Then you do not stand apart from your universe out of distance… but out of trust."
The silver-being finally understood."A creator who watches instead of ruling… allows creation to breathe."
The ether-born fell into quiet reflection. Some sat upon the mist-like ground. Some floated slightly above it. All of them watched the universe with new understanding.
Night unfolded vast sheets of shadow across a glowing galaxy, unaware of our conversation. Time pulsed, weaving order into planetary orbits, also unaware.
But they could feel me.
Not see me. Not hear me. But feel my presence like a pressure in the fabric of reality.
The silver-being whispered:
"They do not look back at you… Yet they feel you everywhere."
"Yes," I said. "Their purpose is to guide the universe. Mine is to watch its beginning."
I lowered myself until I sat at the very edge of my floating realm. The mist curled beneath me like a living cushion. The newborn universe glowed before me, stretching into infinity. Stars flickered like tiny promises. Galaxies spiralled in graceful dance. In the distance, a world cooled slowly into a cradle of potential life.
The ether-born gathered behind me, silent and reverent.
I breathed a quiet truth:
"Creation is not complete when it is made. Creation is complete when it grows."
And so I watched.
The universe expanding. Night shapes its gentle darkness. Time marking the moment each star was born.
I had created the beginning.
Now I chose to witness the becoming.